The invention relates to a heater device for warming a portion of a person's body, and particularly to such a device for warming the hands of a person outdoors, such as a golfer, hunter, fisherman, or other outdoors person.
Heretofore, numerous devices have been proposed for warming the hands and other portions of the body of a person. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,862,519 discloses a hand warmer pack which is worn about a person's waist. A muff is provided on the outside of the pack which includes a flannel pocket which may contain a heater. The construction is quite bulky and is not suitable for certain types of outdoor activities. U.S. Pat. No. 4,408,355 discloses another hand warming device which is worn about the waist that includes end openings through which the hands may be placed within the device for warming. A heat source may be provided inside the muff as an additional means of warming the hands. The device protrudes significantly from the body and can interfere with a person's activities. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,495,659 and 2,727,241 disclose muff-type hand warmers which may be carried or worn about a portion of a person's body that include pockets for chemical heaters and the like inside the muff. While the foregoing devices provide suitable hand warmers, they are rather bulky and awkward to wear. In particular, the prior art devices may not be suitably worn by persons engaged in certain activities, such as golfing and other sporting activities.
Golfers often use a chemical heat pack activated by air to warm their hands in the winter months. The heat packs typically last about eighteen hours but are only used for a small fraction of that time and discarded. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,282,005. U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,887 discloses an insulated multi-use seat cushion with closeable hand and foot openings for warming wherein a closeable flap is provided as a heat window to adjust the amount of heat released by an auxiliary heater and the like.
Accordingly, an important object of the present invention is to provide a body warming device which may be conveniently worn by a person engaged in activities outdoors for warming the hands.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a body warming device which may be worn by a person to warm the hands and may be reversed to place the warmer directly against the body to warm other portions of the body.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a body warming device which uses a chemical heat pack activated by air for warming a portion of a person's body which includes an air-tight compartment which deactivates and stores the chemical heat pack for later use, thus eliminating the waste of an unused heat pack.
Another object of the invention is to provide a body warming device for warming the hands and other body portions which has a generally flat profile so that it does not protrude from the body and does not unduly interfere with a person's activities.
Another object of the invention is to provide a body warming device for warming the hands of a golfer or other outdoor sportsman which may be worn about the person's body without interfering with the person's activities.